Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Personally, I love dying eggs! But here are some adorable alternatives if you want to go dye-free!

Words That Stick Use foam alphabet stickers to add playful phrases to eggs for the Easter breakfast buffet. $4; joann.com

Beautiful Blooms

For an Easter decoration you can use year after year, have kids cut flowers from paper napkins and découpage them onto ceramic eggs.What you'll need: Floral paper napkins, scissors, foam brush, Elmer's glue, blown-out or ceramic egg, small roll of tapeMake it: Cut flowers or desired design from paper napkins. If using 2-ply napkins, peel away the thin white paper backing from the cutout napkin pieces (this will make it easier to glue to the egg). Use a foam brush to apply glue to half of the egg, then press a napkin flower on top and cover with a thin layer of glue. Add more napkin flowers, one by one, making sure to brush the top of each with glue. Place the half covered egg on the roll of tape and let dry for about 15 minutes, then repeat for the other half of the egg. When completely covered, set the egg on roll of tape and let it dry overnight.

Egg Heads Make Easter a family affair. Disguise shells by drawing on facial features and adding yarn hair and hats.

Funny Farm Transform eggs into Easter icons with a little felt and a lot of imagination.

Funny Farm:Bunny

What you'll need: Felt, marker, scissors, craft glue, blown-out or ceramic egg, small white pom-pom, extra small pink pom-pom, pink yarn, hair spray, bottle capMake it: To make the outer ear shapes, trace your child's thumb onto pink felt twice. To make the inner ear shapes, trace your child's pinky finger onto white felt twice. Cut all of the ear shapes out, then glue the inner ear shape on top of the outer ear shape, making sure to leave about ¼" at the bottom unattached, and set aside to dry. In the meantime, cut three 1-inch pieces of yarn and spray with hair spray to stiffen; let dry. Rest the egg in the bottle cap and apply two small dots of glue to the top, about ½" apart, and gently separate the unattached part of each bunny ear and press down on the glue dots. When yarn is dry, twist the pieces together in the middle and glue to the front of the egg, about halfway down. Attach the extra small pink pompom on top of the yarn whiskers for a nose. Glue the whit

Funny Farm: Chick

What you'll need: Felt, marker, scissors, craft glue, blown-out or ceramic egg, bottle capMake it: Download, print, and cut out the feather templates. Trace templates onto felt and cut out. Glue the diamond-shaped piece of felt onto the top of the egg. Apply a thin line of glue along the bottom of the pointy piece and press along the length of the diamond-shaped piece; let dry. Cut a small triangle from felt, bend in half, and glue the bottom half onto the front of the egg for a beak. Draw two small dots above the beak for eyes. Let dry completely.
e pompom to the back of the egg for a tail. Use a marker to draw eyes on the bunny, then draw a mouth. (Tip: draw the letter J then add a loop on the other side.) Leave the bunny on the bottle cap to dry overnight.

The USDA just released a document outlining new eating guidelines for Americans. But just what do these guidelines mean and how can we incorporate them in our everyday eating habits?
We break it down for you and provide recipes that will help you eat healthier in 2011.Check out the full report!

Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids. This means that we need to cut down consumption of animal products, dairy, eggs and also of processed foods (trans fats hide under the guise of hydrogenated oil in processed foods). We need to replace these with good fats like monounsaturated fatty acids (found in walnuts, pistachios, avocadoes and olive oil) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (found in salmon, fish oil, safflower oil etc).Get the recipe for Avocado SalsaGet the recipe for Spicy Hoisin SalmonGet the recipe for Apple Walnut Baby Puree

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

With my daughter's first birthday party rapidly approaching, I'm in party planning mode and thought I'd share some of my ideas. For her party favors, I'm toying with the idea of Hand-Dipped Chocolate Covered Oreos. They are so pretty and I can't imagine taste delicious!

Instructions

Things you'll need:

Lay wax paper out on your work surface, and remove cookies from their packaging, removing or eating any broken ones.

Melt molding chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on medium heat. Microwave for 1 minute the first time and then for 20 second increments until chocolate is almost melted. Remove from microwave and stir till last small pieces are melted. Molding Chocolate should be around 100- 110 degrees

Drop and Oreo in the bowl of chocolate, and flip it over with your dipping fork.

Lift your cookie out of the chocolate with the dipping fork and shake off excess chocolate by lightly tapping the base of the fork on the side of the bowl.

Place the cookie on the wax paper and allow the cookies to dry till solid. At least 10-15 minutes.

Decorate the cookies by melting more molding chocolate in your color of choice in a microwave proof bowl as per the directions in step two above. Place this melted chocolate in a small snack size plastic bag and cut off a small tip of one corner. Use this bag to drizzle a design across the cookies in your pattern of choice. Have fun with this part and use your imagination!

So, we'll see how they turn out!

As for packaging them, I'm going to buy Plain white or pink take out boxes, put a colorful sticker on them and use my other theme colors (bright blue, lime green and pale yellow) as tissue paper, topped with a cute ribbon, I'm hoping they will turn out cute! I'll post pictures when finished!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Got (Blue) Milk?
Put a few drops of food coloring in a pitcher of milk (choose your kid's fave shade). Make sure she's watching when you nonchalantly fix her morning bowl of cereal!

Breakfast Bait and Switch
Swap out sugar for salt and watch Dad put it in his morning cup of coffee. (Have a second, non-salted cup ready to go though).
For more morning fun, take out cereal bags and put them in mismatching boxes. See how long it takes for everyone to find their favorite cereal.

Bedtime Switcheroo
Moms, wait until your kids are asleep, and then switch them in their beds. Or, quietly swap around their dresser drawers. Make sure you're there when they wake up in the morning to take in their surprised expressions.

Really, Really Cold Cereal
Put water in a cereal bowl, and freeze overnight. The next morning, offer to fix Dad or your kids a bowl of cereal. Pour the cereal on top of the ice, completely covering it, and watch them try to dig in.

Mouse Malfunction
This one's good for the kid who checks his e-mail first thing every morning: Put part of a post-it note over the tracking ball on a computer mouse -- it won't work! (Make sure to write "April Fools!" on the note).

Backwards Dinner
Serve up a topsy-turvy dinner to throw your kids for a loop: bake meatloaf in a 12-cup muffin tin and frost with mashed potatoes for a "cupcakes" dinner -- bonus if you add food coloring to the spuds. Then toast strips of pound cake for a dessert of "French fries". Don't forget red-tinted frosting for ketchup!

If the Shoe Fits
Bunch up TP and stuff it in the toe of the victim's shoes. They'll wonder why their shoes suddenly don't fit.

Drink Up Mix-Up
Add a squirt of lemon juice to a glass of water when your kid's not looking, then wait for his sour face. Or, color water to mimic fruit punch or juice, and switch out the real drink for the dyed H2O.

Disciplinary Action
For an older kid who can handle it: When your kid comes home from school, tell her a teacher or the principal called to discuss your kid's bad behavior. Let them know the gag's up when you see them start sweating.

Drip, Drip, Drip
Use a pin to make a few small holes in a plastic disposable cup, and make sure to put it back on the top of the stack. Watch as Dad gets a drink and it ends up all over his shirt.
P.S.: Make sure it's a drink that doesn't stain, or the joke's really on whoever has to do the laundry!

Picture This
Take a screenshot of the desktop of Dad's computer, and leave the image open. Sit back and let him freak out for a few minutes, believing the computer is frozen.

Hands On
Tell the kids you are banning all utensils -- hide them the night before, too. Then watch as everyone has fun eating with their hands. Little kids especially will love a break from being told they must use their fork.

Chain Reaction
Sneak into Daddy's underwear drawer and safety pin all of his undies together side by side. When he pulls out one pair, they all come out!

Backwards Day
Your kids know: tags go in back -- but not today! For April Fools', let them have a backwards day, with tops, pants and dresses all worn reverse-style.

DIY Daylight Saving Time
Set all the clocks in the house an hour or two early -- then ease the blow of an early wake-up by taking the kiddos out for breakfast.

Monday, March 28, 2011

So, the twin trend is crazy lately in celeb world! Is there something in the water? Here are 13 Celebrity parents of twins...

Julia Roberts

Roberts, who gave birth to Phinnaeus Walter and Hazel Patricia in November 2004 (singleton son Henry arrived June 2007) may be Hollywood's glam girl, but with her kids, she's just Mom. Proof in point: the streak of pink hair she sported to a charity in late '08, which was the handiwork of little Hazel.

J. Lo and Marc AnthonyGiving your twins names with shared initials isn't new, but we like the twist taken by Marc Anthony and J.Lo, who named their twins, born February 2008, Max and Emme. Emme, while not an "M" name, is tied to Max in a unique, subtle way.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick

SJP used a surrogate to welcome twin girls Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge Broderick in June 2009, joining big brother James Wilkie, born in October 2002. It only seems right that the style icon has daughters; can you imagine the dress-up sessions in this mom's closet?

Ricky Martin

La vida loca got a little more loca when Martin welcomed twin sons Matteo and Valentino via surrogate in August 2008. The boys did more than just make him a dad; they also inspired him to be true to himself and come out of the closet in March 2010.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

It's easy to lose track, but somewhere in that big Jolie/Pitt brood is a set of two. Fraternal twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon were born in July 2008, bringing the family head count to 8.

Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell

Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell welcomed twin girls Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip into the world in late December 2008, but say they're drawing the line at two. "We feel like the world was made for pairs. Four feels like the perfect number," Romijn told People magazine.

Holly Robinson and Rodney Peete

Not only do Holly Robinson and Rodney Peete have double trouble with twins Rodney and Ryan (in addition to daughter Ryan and son Robinson) -- they found out they had a bit more on their plate when Rodney Jr. was diagnosed with autism.

Julie BowenModern Family actress Julie Bowen has mastered the "double football hold" to breastfeed her baby boys John and Gus simultaneously. Bowen, who also has an older son Oliver (2) with real estate investor husband Scott Phillips, captured a shot to show the audience of The View, but the producers nixed it. Fortunately, George Lopez was more than happy to show a blown-up version in the background of his interview with Bowen. "Those twins are lucky," he told her.

Lisa Marie Presley

After struggling with infertility, the King's daughter says she took blood thinners and instantly conceived daughters Finley and Harper with husband Michael Lockwood. The twins, born in October 2008, join half-sibs Riley and Benjamin.

Marcia Cross

While many celebs stay tight-lipped about fertility treatments, Cross has been open about the fact that she used IVF to conceive twin daughters, Eden and Savannah, born in February 2007.

Kate Gosselin

When most people think of Kate Gosselin, they think sextuplets. It's easy to forget, though, that Gosselin and ex-husband Jon were once parents to just Mady and Cara, born in October 2000.

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra

It doesn't necessary take the energy of a world-class soccer player and professional baseball player to raise twin daughters, but it sure doesn't hurt. "There are challenges," she told People magazine. "In the early morning, you're thinking 'Man, I could really use another half hour of sleep.' But you go in and it's those smiles; they look at you like you're a superhero."

Diana Krall and Elvis Costello

We bet these kids get some awesome lullabies. Twin boys Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlem James were born to the musical duo in December 2006. Krall (not pictured) told People that twins run in her family -- and that she's not into dressing them in matchy-matchy outfits.